Curated OER
Disguise for the Eyes
Young scientists discover how many, many animals use color as a way of helping them to survive in the wild. They understand how animals use color in their everyday lives. Pupils engage in hands-on activities, watch videos, access...
National Park Service
Living & Non-Living Interactions
What better way to learn about ecosystems than by getting outside and observing them first hand? Accompanying a field trip to a local park or outdoor space, this series of collaborative activities engages children in learning about the...
Scholastic
Awesome Adaptations
Engaged learners discover how an owl beak works and how animals adapt to their environment. This task is part one of a three-part series.
California Academy of Science
Carbon Cycle Role Play
Anytime you make concepts clear with role playing or hands-on experience, it's a win for the whole class. Ping-Pong balls are used to represent carbon in a carbon cycle role-play activity. In small groups, children first discuss what...
Curated OER
Field Guide to Schoolyard Insects and Their Relatives
Sometimes all you need to complete your perfect lesson plan is an awesome hands-on learning experience. Here is an extension activity that is sure to excite your learners. They'll head outside to observe the local insect community. When...
Certificate Street
World Environment Awareness Template
If you are celebrating World Environment Day with your environmentalists, here is a certificate template that you can print out if you are wanting to recognize individual achievements. There are spaces to enter the recipient's name,...
Curated OER
Oil Changes Everything
Learners participate in a hands on activity simulating an oil spill. In this oil spill lesson plan, students conduct an experiment about an oil spill, discuss how it would affect the environment and provide solutions to prevent oil spills.
Curated OER
Dining Out With Fishes and Birds of the Hudson
The class will make observations to determine how environment has shaped the way particular birds and fish eat. They will view a series of photographs, read two short articles, and then consider how food availability has determined how...
PBS
Twirling in the Breeze
Blow classes away with a hands-on lesson investigating wind speed. Learners use common materials to design and construct anemometers. They then test their anemometers and collect data on the wind speed created by a fan.
Curated OER
The Living Environment
Young scholars use a spoon, clothespin, scissors, and toothpicks to simulate how animals get food in their environment. For this environment lesson plan, students learn about the adaptations animals make in order to survive.
Curated OER
Build the Taiga: Hands on Biome-Building
Students explore environmental awareness by completing a construction project. In this biomes lesson, students identify the different elements for life to thrive in an ecosystem. Students utilize a cardboard or wood box to create a biome...
Science Matters
Formative Assessment #2
Learners work collaboratively to predict what life would be like as an Arctic Hare. Teams go on a hunt where scholars role play an owl, white hares, and gray hares. Independently, pupils record their findings and reflect on their...
Curated OER
Backyard Bugs
Explore the concept of scientific classification and the similarities and differences between plant and animal species. Your class will participate in hands-on activities by investigating dichotomous keys and classifying their shoes. To...
Curated OER
Yuckiest Site on the Internet
Students investigate the worm and the cockroach. In this organisms lesson, students visit suggested websites to identify the characteristics of worms and cockroaches. Students dissect a worm and observe a live cockroach. Students report...
Curated OER
A Pollution Solution- Taking Care of the Environment
Pupils examine the biodegradability of different brands of toilet paper in a hands-on activity. Through this activity they also discover the steps of the Scientific Method and use new terms such as hypothesis, procedure, observation, and...
California Academy of Science
Fish Prints
What do a dead fish, conservation, and paint have in common? The answer is a great lesson about fish anatomy, fun print making techniques, and unsustainable fishing practices. The class will start by making fish prints with a...
Curated OER
A House is a House for Me
Students evaluate the impact climates have on the building of structures. They research the different types of materials used to build houses in various climates and build small models of houses which are tested against different climates.
Curated OER
Conserving Electric Energy
Another fantastic lesson plan on energy is presented by the American Coal Foundation. This one focuses on electricity; how it is produced, how it is delivered, and how it is used. Some excellent handouts are embedded in this fine plan...
Curated OER
Week 8 - Sea Life
Using a magnifier, mini marine biologists examine the barbules of a bird feather. They swirl the it into a mixture of oil and water and then re-examine the feather. After the activity, discuss how the oily feathers pose a problem to sea...
Desert Discoveries
Amazing Arthropods
Arthropods are the stars of a fine science instructional activity. Learners look at the diversity, characteristics, adaptations, and important roles that these insects play in the Sonoran Desert environment. A terrific document called...
Smithsonian Institution
Trait Tracker
Help mice beat the odds with an exciting activity about traits. Biologists discover the role of diet and other factors on animal traits by participating in a simulation activity. Teams collect and evaluate data to understand how certain...
Curated OER
Soak it up
Learners complete a hands on activity using hard boiled eggs, food coloring, tape, cups, water, and a knife to show how permeability affects animals. In this permeability lesson plan, students complete this activity and learn how...
Curated OER
Testing for Vitamin C in Different Drinks and Foods
Students examine the importance of vitamin c in their diets and the sources that it comes from. In this vitamin lesson students complete hands on activities, interpret data and make a bar graph.
Curated OER
It's Rainin', It's Pouring
Students take a quick examine part of the water cycle, and the combined gas laws. The lesson plan lead them through the conditions necessary for cloud formation and allow them to create clouds in three different hands-on activities.